Industry Leaders' Panel - Day 2, Session 3
A collection of the biggest brains in the online media space along with one of the biggest online spenders made for a very interesting panel discussion..
Moderator: Mark Evans, Senior Technology Reporter, National Post
Panel:
Jordan Banks, Managing Director, eBay Canada
Arturo Duran, President, CanWest Interactive
Patrick Lauzon, Executive Vice-President, Quebecor Media
Alex Leslie, Vice-President, Product and Technology, AOL Canada Inc.
David U.K., Director of Sales and Strategic Alliances, Standard Interactive
Ray Newal, VP Bus. Dev., Yahoo.ca
Some interesting points I noted form the discussion are:
US revenues per internet user are around $71 whereas the Canadian Revenue lacks at approx. $35?
- 60% of Canadians surf US sites so considering we only have 40% to monetize we are not doing bad
- Canadian advertisers are still using the internet only as a direct response mechanism, in the US P&G and others have moved a lot of their brand money online, this is driving a surge
- Canadian advertisers and publishers need to form a team and go to the US sites and demand that targeting be made geographically relevant otherwise it’s a waste of their inventory and a loss for Canadian consumers.
What are the publishers doing to counteract the surge of Google? And how does it impact a client’s ad spending?
- It’s a very fast changing industry and the company that builds a better mouse trap will get the customers. The evolution of Search is still not over, it can and will move towards local & more relevancy
- Yahoo is developing social search so if you search for restaurants in whistler instead of returning just a algorithmic result we will search customer reviews/opinions/blogs etc to give you recommendations from people you know and trust.
- AOL has partnered with Google for Search, but has its own capabilities and content in Video.
- Jordan made an excellent point of how Search is a great for ROI based results, but it does little to further the brand. eBay is listed on the same page as all other manufacturers selling digital cameras, therefore it very easy for customers to hit the back button and go to the other search results –thus its important to use other tactics to make brand impression.
Where is online going in terms of capturing the branding dollars?
- I don’t think there was a clear answer to this question. I know many large companies like Canadian Tire, RBC, Dove (Unilever) have done pilots and trails and have experienced fairly good success. IAB Canada has some good reports about these trails. But online acts as complimentary medium for brand it’s still far from the other mass mediums in terms of brand impact.
I am sure if time permitted this discussion could have gone on for another hour as it’s a very interesting and competitive space right now. Its like it's 1999 all over again…
